Friday, September 30, 2016

I just get the shivers seeing those zombie hands, I can imagine them grabbing me, LOL! Ok I have a vivid imagination. :-) I colored the hands with a Faber Castell big brush pin. I love the pumpkin face, I painted in with acrylic paints and then gave it some shine with mist.

I attached bows to both tags using ribbon from Really Reasonable Ribbon's August Assortment. Then I topped the bows with wood veneer bats painted black.

This creepy spider is one of my favorite Halloween chippies. I used black flower soft on the body of the spider to make it all hairy scary looking and on the creepy word I used Ranger black puffs embossing powder. The web beneath the spider is heat embossed with aged silver embossing enamel.

I added flair buttons on the inside of the tags to cover the backside of the grommet.

Of course, I had to add some flowers! That large purple bloom is one of my favorite Botanicas from Petaloo. The orange flowers are just some loose flowers from my stash.

Wednesday, September 28, 2016

This is my last post as guest designer for Cheery Lynn Designs. :-( I am so sad!

Creatively speaking, I'd have to say that Halloween is my favorite time of the year. Although I don't really decorate for Halloween, I do love making Halloween themed items, especially tags! I used lots of Cheery Lynn dies on this tag that I made from Graphic 45's Steampunk Spells.

These flowers and leaves are cut from black cardstock using the Floral Bouquet Kit and Flourish # 14. After assembling them, I misted with Lindy's Starburst Mist Golden Lump O'Coal. That gave them that fun gold gilded look.

Thank's so much to cheery Lynn for having me as your guest designer this month. I really can't say enough good things about these dies. The cuts are always crisp and clean and literally fall out of the dies. No more poking through tiny holes that my old eyes have a hard time seeing!

Monday, September 19, 2016

Hi there Cheery Lynn fans! Today I'm sharing a layout I made for the September 15th Vintage challenge going on right now! That photo is me and I suspect it was taken on the first day of the 2nd grade. I used Graphic 45's ABC Primer papers to do my vintage look but as is typical of me, I had to add a bright splash of color with the red flowers.

I like to layer it up so I used the French Flair Pierce and Cut tool die to cut layers in different patterned papers. The title, Learn, is a word chippie from Creative Embellishments.

I tend to mix and match my dies when I make flowers. For the flower above I've used Stacker Flower 5 on the bottom and the Black Eyed Susan Strip 5 Piece Die Set for the top layers and center. I really love that center piece! The flowers below are made with the Black Eyed Susan Strip die.I used Flourish #4 and Flourish #7 to add to my floral clusters. Flourish 4 is such a nice large flourish that I tore it apart and tucked in pieces here and there.

Thanks for joining me today. Be sure to enter the Vintage challenge going on right now. You could win a $20 gift certificate to the store! You'll find all the details on the September 15 challenge post.

Thursday, September 15, 2016

I am quite guilty of over thinking my projects sometimes and the result can really be a hot mess! I really think that I need to remember that simple is good and can be quite eye catching. Now this card is a perfect example of simple yet pretty. I cut a base card and added two quick paper layers. Then I selected a great Creative Embellishments oval frame to surround the pretty image from Simple Stories Sunshine & Happiness collection. I heat embossed the frame with Stampendous shabby white embossing enamel, added some pretty Petaloo blooms and a seambinding bow. That's it, card done!

For this next card, I chose a cut-apart from one of my favorite Graphic 45 collections, Typography and pasted it to a black cardstock base. I diecut a doily and tucked in the upper left corner and added a piece of chipboard at the bottom right corner. To pull it all together, I used a rectangular frame from Creative Embellishments, again, heat embossed with Stampendous Chunky Metallic Seasonings Embossing Enamel. Add some pretty flowers and leaves, and that's it, all done. Quick, easy, effective.

Friday, September 9, 2016

This house has a secret and I made it especially for my chocoholic friends! Trust me, this is just what you need because this cute and spooky Halloween house is a cleverly disguised candy box. Ha, you can hide your chocolate stash in this box and no one will be the wiser! The roof of the house is actually hinged at the top and each roof lifts up to reveal a nice little box where you can stash your favorite chocolates.

The box is made from two Graphic 45 Staples boxes. I built each side of the house independent of the other and glued them together at the end. First I cut two panels for the ends of the box that would support the roof and glued them to the smaller sides of the box on the outside. The flap of the box that forms the book box cover is glued so that it stands up forming the top of the roof peak. The chipboard panel is cut to fit over the opening in the box, forming the roof. I attached it to the roof peak with a small piece of folded cardstock adhering one side of the cardstock to the chipboard roof flap and the other side to the roof peak forming a flap that can be raised and lowered. Now I glued the tall backs of the two boxes together forming the house. I used Washi tape to cover the seam where the two roofs meet so that the roof hinge was reinforced and the roof flaps would not tear off. I also used Washi tape to reinforce the seam on the sides where the two boxes are joined together.

Before you finish the inside of the roof flaps attach an Ornate Metal Label Holder to each roof flap. Then when you cover the inside of the roof, the backs of the metal brads won't show. The rabbit and Mad Hatter on this side were fussy cut from an ephemera card.

I fussy cut the cat from the signature page.

I turned another ephemera card into a door by adding heat embossed hinges and a Prima metal knob.

I added metal tab holders to use as finger holds to lift the roof and get at the secret chocolate stash! :-)

Hellow friends, I"m back with Cheery Lynn again. These dies are so fabulous, but let me tell you why. One pass through my Spellbinders Platinum and they are cut. I don't have to run it through multiple times to get a clean cut and the designs generally fall right out of the die. No more poking through little holes to get the design out of the die. I seriously love that!

Have you seen Graphic 45's new collection, Off to the Races? It's such a colorful collection with G45's trademark vintage images. I made a canvas using some of Cheery Lynn's stacker dies as layers behind my focal point, Lucky ephemera card. The red mat under the card is French Flair Pierce and Cut tool. There are 6 dies in that set, each one pierced around the edges so you could run a thread through it if you wanted.

The green mat under the ATC card is Pierced Stacker #3 and is such a pretty quatrefoil type shape. I really love this die and it comes with 6 nested sizes.

Sunday, September 4, 2016

This month at Petaloo, we're featuring projects that you can do with the kids and grandkids. You know those days when the kids are saying I'm bored, there's nothing to do? That's the time to reach for these projects!

Now I always loved paper dolls when I was a child so I thought it would be fun to make dolls today! I've used a couple of Julie Nutting doll stamps to make my paper dolls but if you don't have any doll stamps, you could have the kids cut out pictures from old magazines.

First up is my mermaid tag that I made with Graphic 45's Voyage Beneath the Sea collection. I like to use large tags so that I have lots of room for embellishing. This tag is actually a Graphic 45 packaging tag that I've recycled and it measures about 4" x 8 3/4". First I covered the tag with some design paper and then painted on a little white gesso to tone it down a bit and give it an underwater look.

To make my mermaid, I stamped her on cream cardstock and cut that out. Then I stamped her onto different pieces of design paper and pieced her together..

I love these Petaloo Botanica Mixed Blooms in blue/green . I layered them over some Creative Embellishments sea grass and Petaloo Teal Spring Berry Picks to create an underwater scene.

Now add a fun G45 chipboard tag with a great quote on it to finish it off. Add a bow at the top and presto! You've got a great tag to share. I know the kids will have fun making paper doll tags. Give the kids some magazines, paper scraps, scissors and glue and let their imaginations go wild.

Next up, a pretty miss, fashionably dressed for summer in an outfit made from Graphic 45's Ladie's Diary DCE. This tag has plenty of popped up layers. That's a fun technique that you can show the kids, just give them some cardboard to use, it's so much cheaper than using foam tape. Glue the cardboard to the back of your layer being sure to cut it small enough so that it doesn't show, and start layering it up!

Along with the Petaloo flowers. I added a pretty beige Petaloo Fancy Trim detail at the bottom. I bet you have some bits and pieces of ribbons and trims laying around, so give those to the kids too and I bet you'll be surprised at what they come up with. I love seeing what children create because their minds haven't been inhibited by "what you're supposed to do." Their creativity really amazes me.

To add some fun dimension, I popped up part of her dress. This tag really has dimension, There's the base tag, then a popped up oval frame, a smaller oval frame also popped up, then the doll is popped up with a flirty pop up of her dress.

Here's a pretty little cluster of a tag, a sticker and Petaloo flowers.

The perfect finishing touch for my projects is always flowers and I've used some of my favorites on this tag, new Petaloo Darjeelings, an anemone and roses.

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About Me

I suppose one can make the connection between scrapbooking and travel. After all, if one travels a lot, there usually are pictures begging to be scrapped. My husband and I retired a couple of years ago and wander the continent whenever possible in our motorhome. We've been from Key West, FL to Fairbanks, Alaska and from the Pacific Ocean to the Atlantic Ocean in our RV!
But you are probably wondering what "Bark" has to do with this. Currently we are owned by two standard poodles and we usually travel in our motorhome so that they can accompany us. We refer to the motorhome as the "Doghouse".
So, I scrap, we travel, the dogs bark. In 3 words, I have described to you much about who I am! I do always take scrappy supplies with me in the RV so that when the mood strikes, I am ready!
I hope you'll visit my blog often to see what I am up to and please leave me a message now and then so I'll know you were here!